“You are here because you have gone to bed with someone”. “Whore”. “Girl”. If they dress one way or another, qualifiers of your physique, their age or about their way of communicating or expressing themselves. That they assume that they do not make decisions, that in negotiations look at the leader man. That their worth be questioned or that their proposals be ignored or belittled. They are comments and attitudes that the Catalan deputies face in their day to day inside and outside the institutions. A same macho pattern that, despite the political differences, X-ray in EL PERIÓDICO seven leaders with responsibilities in their respective parties. They do it, on the eve of 8-M, with the vocation of “not shut up” nor surrender to the consideration of “intruders” in power.
Marta Vilalta: “They value your physique, how you are, whether you laugh or not, how you are dressed, how you behave, the gestures you make…”
Not only do they find it more difficult to arrive, stay and manage to lead the way, but as soon as they set foot in politics they are subjected to public scrutiny that has nothing to do with that of their peers. “They value your physiquehow you are, if you laugh or not, how you are dressed, how you behave, the gestures you make… There is a clear bias because this type of assessment is not made in the case of men”, explains the deputy general secretary of ERC and spokesperson in Parliament, marta vilalta.
The same points to the other six. If some point to her youth, others, like the president of the CUP group, Dolors Sabater, they reproach him that “he is older”. Together’s spokesperson, Monica Sales, assures that one of the first difficulties is that there are situations that “are internalized as if they were normal” when in reality they represent a grievance for the leaders, who claim to be valued for the initiatives they promote as their colleagues. Social media doesn’t exactly make it easy. A study by the Inter-Parliamentary Union indicates that around the 65% of female political leaders suffer sexist or sexually demeaning commentsa phenomenon that has increased in recent years due to the impunity and anonymity associated with the networks.
“They have called me a bitch, drunk, they have messed with my private life,” laments the deputy for Ciutadans and mayor in Barcelona, Anna Grau. “I am finding a lot that they send me to Valencia, they tell me to go to my town,” adds the president of En Comú Podem, Jessica Albiach, which denounces that they seek to point them out as “intruders”. They all agree that it is there where they receive the greatest disqualifications. But not only. The deputy of the PP Lorraine Roldan he is very aware of a journalistic chronicle that was published after a political act in which he intervened: “Literal phrases of my fellow men stood out, but in my case they talked about my hairstyle, without talking about my speech or what I had said “.
Alícia Romero: “It makes me very angry that, at the age of 46, they call me ‘girl'”
As much as they admit that there has been an evolution and a greater awareness, there are tics that, they say, continue inside and outside the parties. “It makes me very angry that, with 46 years of age, call me ‘girl’. I’m sure it’s not in bad faith, but at 46 they don’t call them ‘boy'”, acknowledges the PSC spokesperson at the institution, Alicia Romero. It is an expression that, they point out, implies that they do not see them qualified or that there are issues in which they should not get involved.
This is what happened to Sabater when she was mayoress of Badalona. Wanting to be in charge of the local police or occupying the presidency in boards of directors cost her horrors. For “paternalism” or directly for “misogyny”: “They take it for granted that you won’t know how to do it”. He explains that she had to “make gestures of authority like sitting at the head of the table” to be respected.
Anna Grau: “They have called me a bitch, drunk, they have messed with my private life”
Vilalta felt something similar when he made his debut as party spokesman. In her case, for being “young” and for being a “woman”, although she has managed to overcome herself over time. It is common, especially in the beginning, to “not feel heard” or not to have “enough account” the contributions of the leaders, or that the same comments are more valued if they are made by a man than they are. “What has saved me is knowing that we are a lot of womenthat we are a network”, assures the Republican, who adds that the change occurs when you realize that “the problem is not yours, it is collective”.
To be, but also to decide
Once they arrive with all this backpack on their backs, they also find that it is one thing to hold the position and another thing to really be able to exercise it. Both Roldán and Romero and Albiach agree that within their parties they have decision power, but that have been found in meetings -especially outside of politics- where the interlocutor addresses the man directly. “If you go to events many times they do not think that you are the spokesperson or that you have responsibility, they think that you are from the team or that you are adviser“laments the socialist. “And they don’t always take you seriously“adds the popular.
Jéssica Albiach: “They question that we make decisions and, when we do, they tell us that we are very harsh or that we are bitter”
Albiach, as president of the parliamentary group and coordinator of Catalunya en Comú, does not hesitate to ensure that, seven years after entering politics, she has decision-making power in her political space, something that is sometimes questioned outside the gates. “They question that we make the decisions and, when we do, They tell us that we are very hard or that we are bitter“, he maintains. Grau sees it in a similar way, who ensures that the fact that a man is “assertive and with character” is seen as “positive” and he is told that he has “leadership material”, something that does not happen with women “It seems that you have to apologize for not being a geisha,” he laments.
The sore of conciliation
They all agree that nothing is the same as it was years ago, but also that there is still a long way to go. And it is essential to start with the self-criticism in their respective political spaces. There is none that does not receive internal support, but they all also make requests to their own. “To a minority of men in my party I would say try to observe the 21st century world as it is. Men and women are prepared to do the same things“, underlines the spokesperson for Junts, Mònica Sales, who adds that “not shutting up” behind closed doors is also necessary and that one of the pending battles is also to continue “putting your finger in the sore spot” of the complex conciliation: ” They give you to understand that by dedicating yourself to politics you are neglecting issues that as a woman it is up to you to attend to “
Mònica Sales: “They give you to understand that by dedicating yourself to politics you are neglecting issues that as a woman it is up to you to attend to”
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The deputy and candidate for Ciutadans in Barcelona is also critical, but not against the men of her party, but against the lack of solidarity that makes women leaders of other formations ugly. Regrets that there is a double yardstick depending on who is the victim of the macho attacks. “If it is against Irene Montero We all go out, but if your name is Anna Grau or Inés Arrimadas, no. Depending on which companions you are before Ciudadanos, which woman, “she says.
Above the quarrels between parties, at least in the reflective field, the spirit of rebelling against the fact of having to “fight twice as much” being aware, also, of their privileged situation before women who do not have a voice. For them, because politics should be exemplary and with different accents they will be on the streets this 8-M.